1.   Arrese and Salas Pombo made desperate efforts to convince military and Church leaders that the proposed laws were not a disguised attempt to make Spain a totalitarian state.

2.   But advocates for coastal dwellers called the report a thinly disguised attempt to drive residents from the beach.

3.   Liberals countered that efforts to reform the FDA were thinly disguised attempts by industry to sell products before they were proved safe and effective.

4.   The civil liberties union contends that the Helms amendment is a thinly disguised attempt by Congress to ban speech that certain legislators find offensive.

5.   The Croats, for their part, have attacked the initiative as a thinly disguised attempt by the Americans to tie Croatia to the former Yugoslav republics.

6.   They say the visa demand is a thinly disguised attempt to blackmail the country into abandoning pro-Western policies and leaving the four Russian military bases in Georgia as is.

7.   Air Canada claims the Onex bid is a thinly disguised attempt by American Airlines to gain control of Canadian skies.

8.   But the Supreme Court ruling that ended segregation called that argument a thinly disguised attempt to retain racist admissions policies.

9.   Ms. Bhutto said the anti-corruption campaign is a thinly disguised attempt to break her party, destroy her political power base and ruin her.